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This is a continuation of our Ocarina notes project. You can see all the parts here.Part 11: Side Quests

Perculia: With only the final dungeon remaining, I’ve found myself looking for all sorts of diversions…even going so far as to fish. I was initially upset, upon becoming Adult Link, that the minigames from the child world were now cut off forever, but upon discovering I could simply replace the sword to warp back (Hamlet: another story element that doesn’t totally make sense, that I think we just don’t think about too hard), I found myself frequently taking breaks between dungeons to clean up all the storylines. From what I understand, I’ve ended up poking at most of the side-quests, so it’s interesting to see both what interested me initially, and why I wasn’t interested in pursuing a select few things.

Magic Beans: When I first met the Magic Beans vendor by Zora’s River, I wasn’t interested in buying any of them–not even for 10 Rupees (H: Heh, I suppose it is true that “magic beans” are something people are usually skeptical of. With a bit of genre savvy though, you can guess the in-game ones are probably not as useless as the real-life variety). However, when I couldn’t access the vendor as Adult Link before learning the Prelude to Time, I suddenly had to know what the beans did.

This is a continuation of our Ocarina notes project. You can see all the parts here.

Part 6: The Forest Temple

Forest Temple

Perculia: I’m liking the aesthetics of the Forest Temple, from the first moment where I had to hookshot off a tree to enter–stained glass, lots of sinister gardens, passageways that are relatively empty, paintings, dignified stairs. It seems mysterious and overrun, yet strangely welcoming. I felt that I was constantly in danger in Jabu-Jabu’s belly, but in the Forest Temple I get the impression that I’m in a foreboding, yet not openly-hostile, environment. It felt peaceful just exploring and getting keys due to the soothing environment, shady coordiors, and pastel doors. If I hit a dead end, I was trained now to retrace steps and the scattered monsters in each room weren’t overwhelming.

Hamlet: The Temples are really the fully-formed Zelda dungeons of this game, which the child dungeons as a sort of training sequence. This is what I was discussing a bit in Jabu-Jabu’s Belly–now you’ll be expected to navigate around on your own, retraverse areas multiple times, find where to go with particular items, etc.

They’re fully-formed aesthetically too, as you notice immediately. I think you’ll enjoy all of them that way, although Forest is really one of the best.

P: The center room looks awesome, all dark grey with the neon fairies floating away in the center. It’s funny, I really do get a sense that it’s in a peaceful sunny forest and this is a cool and shady central room. In exploring the side rooms, I liked seeing the hearts above the columns, the vines, and levels/doors above me. In the left wing, I notice how there’s an eyeball I can’t interact with just yet–the hookshot doesn’t work.

H: Yup, getting the hang of every (properly made) Zelda dungeon. You’re always presented with some things that require the dungeon’s main item, before you have it.